South Shields Westoe suffer defeat in promotion play-off with West Leeds

South Shields Westoe's Ryan Lamb in action.

Published:09:38Monday 01 May 2017

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South Shields Westoe’s promotion dreams came to an end at the weekend when they were narrowly edged out 19-14 against West Leeds.

Lookers sponsored Westoe went into the play-off in a confident mood after last week’s win against Barnard Castle.

With a side consisting of home-grown players, Westoe have shown it is possible to compete against the current trend of ‘buying-in’ talent, by developing from within and building on the strong bonds of a true community club ethos.

From the first whistle, the young Westoe side showed their passion and commitment. Their juggernaut of a pack took control of the scrums and sterling work in the air from Sean Ramsay and John Younghusband, constantly disrupted Leeds’ line-outs.

Scrum half Michael Booth showed some fine box-kicking to keep the visitors pinned in their half, with the back-line showing great line speed to thwart any attacks made.

Early runs from Derek Worthington and Raymie Elliott gave early promise against well-drilled opponents.

Fifteen minutes into the match saw Mak Reeder receive a yellow card for a high tackle and the Leeds side showed composure in manipulating the extra space allowing their winger to score in the corner.

Their confidence high, the visitors put together a period of attacking play, which would normally see better results.

However, the Westoe defence kept them to a penalty goal on 28 minutes.

With ascendancy in the line-outs, Westoe played the line and attacked from five metres out.

A clean take from John Younghusband, they set up a maul, which was pulled down and playing the advantage hit several close-in drives, Rob Scorer eventually crossing the line to end the half.

The second half found the Westoe pack hounding the opposition, slowly working their way up-field.

Fifteen minutes in saw a carbon-copy score, their line-out being collapsed and ensuing drives saw Ryan Lamb cross for the score.